Action is often only spurred by tragedy

Published: Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, March 15, 2013 at 1:10 p.m.

Three weeks ago, my 25-year-old nephew Jared took his dog Coco for a walk. They found his frozen body at noon the next day. Jared suffered from schizophrenia.

I had heard many stories of Jared's troubles over the years, troubles that first surfaced with the onset of puberty.

One year, Jared didn't eat for five weeks. He thought he could get his energy from the sun. It almost killed him. Another time, he took to eating only carrots. He ate so many carrots that he turned orange, and his parents cut him off.

Jared had to have his own refrigerator; his food could not mingle with anybody else's food.

I was concerned that Jared might be dangerous, but he was only a danger to himself. In fact, the vast majority of people with schizophrenia withdraw from society and are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators.

People with schizophrenia can have hallucinations, hearing voices in their head that comment on their thoughts and actions. These voices could be having conversations with other imaginary or hallucinatory voices.

They may have bizarre delusions, often paranoid in nature. Someone's out to get them. Someone or something is putting thoughts in their head, or removing them. Their thinking can be completely disorganized. Socially, they are understandably inept and behave inappropriately. They retreat from social activities and become isolated.

Watching pictures roll by on a screen as his sister Sarah gave his eulogy, I could see the change in Jared. He was a typical happy young boy, frolicking with his younger brother, who obviously idolized him as younger brothers do. The two boys would be flexing their muscles in bodybuilder poses, or bouncing up and down on a trampoline.

As the photos showed Jared getting older, the bright shiny eyes suddenly became vacant. I noticed, from the beginning of the picture show, that Sarah, several years older than Jared, always had a protective arm around him, more so than her youngest brother Daran, as if she somehow knew, from some intuition, that this one needed more protecting, more care.

Jared and Ryan were going to walk the dog together three weeks ago.

"Why don't I walk the dog now, and you can walk him later?" Jared asked Ryan. "That way she'll get two walks in."

Reluctant to let Jared go alone — in fact, his wife had told him not to — Ryan nonetheless let Jared go.

"He seemed so happy," Ryan explained, choking back sobs of incredible grief. "I knew he loved Coco so much, and I let him go."

Two hours later, Jared's mother returned home to a frantic Ryan. The search began. They searched all night. He was found at noon. Efforts to revive him failed.

Ryan showed me pictures of Jared's trail in the deep snow. He was heading home. You could see the many places where he had fallen, completely exhausted, and then got up to walk again. The large, roundish impressions in the snow marking where his body fell got closer and closer together as his strength weakened. The medical examiner estimated his final collapse at 8 a.m. He had been out in the 5-degree weather for 16 hours.

We'll never know what happened. Did he try to commit suicide and then change his mind? About 10 percent of schizophrenics do take their own lives. Did he get lost, following (or running from) voices or sounds that no one else could hear?

Sarah's eulogy of her brother she loved so much was incredibly moving. Everybody was crying.

"Nobody deserves this disease" were her final words.

But a lot of people have it, some 2.5 million in the U.S. Of the roughly 600,000 homeless people in this country, about one-third suffer from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. That's more than the population of Winston-Salem, and twice the number of schizophrenics receiving treatment. People with mental illness comprise 20 percent of the prison population. We have a problem.

I asked Vickie Carpenter, president of the North Carolina chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, what would be No. 1 on her wish list for mental health treatment.

"Public education in our schools, so peers can recognize when there may be a problem," she said, adding, "We need to get over the fear. We don't need to be afraid of people who are mentally ill. This (schizophrenia) is a brain disorder. It's a chemical imbalance in our bodies, just like every other disease we can get."

In the wake of Newtown, Conn., President Barack Obama has promised more money for mental health care in this country through Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education). AWARE hopes to spend $50 million to train 5,000 mental health professionals to work with young people in schools and communities. The goal is to actively reach out to 750,000 of these unfortunate souls and refer them for treatment. There is a need to "actively reach out" because of the sense of shame and secrecy associated with mental illness.

It's terribly unfortunate that it took the tragedy at Newtown to bring the issue into focus, but at least it's on the radar screen now.

Nobody deserves this disease.

Bruce Benson is a Canadian writer and journalist who makes Hendersonville his home. Reach him at bensonusa@ hotmail.com.

<p>Three weeks ago, my 25-year-old nephew Jared took his dog Coco for a walk. They found his frozen body at noon the next day. Jared suffered from schizophrenia.</p><p>I had heard many stories of Jared's troubles over the years, troubles that first surfaced with the onset of puberty.</p><p>One year, Jared didn't eat for five weeks. He thought he could get his energy from the sun. It almost killed him. Another time, he took to eating only carrots. He ate so many carrots that he turned orange, and his parents cut him off.</p><p>Jared had to have his own refrigerator; his food could not mingle with anybody else's food.</p><p>"Why?" I asked his father.</p><p>"He's trying to cure himself," answered Ryan, shrugging his shoulders.</p><p>I was concerned that Jared might be dangerous, but he was only a danger to himself. In fact, the vast majority of people with schizophrenia withdraw from society and are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators.</p><p>People with schizophrenia can have hallucinations, hearing voices in their head that comment on their thoughts and actions. These voices could be having conversations with other imaginary or hallucinatory voices.</p><p>They may have bizarre delusions, often paranoid in nature. Someone's out to get them. Someone or something is putting thoughts in their head, or removing them. Their thinking can be completely disorganized. Socially, they are understandably inept and behave inappropriately. They retreat from social activities and become isolated.</p><p>Watching pictures roll by on a screen as his sister Sarah gave his eulogy, I could see the change in Jared. He was a typical happy young boy, frolicking with his younger brother, who obviously idolized him as younger brothers do. The two boys would be flexing their muscles in bodybuilder poses, or bouncing up and down on a trampoline. </p><p>As the photos showed Jared getting older, the bright shiny eyes suddenly became vacant. I noticed, from the beginning of the picture show, that Sarah, several years older than Jared, always had a protective arm around him, more so than her youngest brother Daran, as if she somehow knew, from some intuition, that this one needed more protecting, more care.</p><p>Jared and Ryan were going to walk the dog together three weeks ago.</p><p>"Why don't I walk the dog now, and you can walk him later?" Jared asked Ryan. "That way she'll get two walks in."</p><p>Reluctant to let Jared go alone — in fact, his wife had told him not to — Ryan nonetheless let Jared go.</p><p>"He seemed so happy," Ryan explained, choking back sobs of incredible grief. "I knew he loved Coco so much, and I let him go."</p><p>Two hours later, Jared's mother returned home to a frantic Ryan. The search began. They searched all night. He was found at noon. Efforts to revive him failed.</p><p>Ryan showed me pictures of Jared's trail in the deep snow. He was heading home. You could see the many places where he had fallen, completely exhausted, and then got up to walk again. The large, roundish impressions in the snow marking where his body fell got closer and closer together as his strength weakened. The medical examiner estimated his final collapse at 8 a.m. He had been out in the 5-degree weather for 16 hours.</p><p>We'll never know what happened. Did he try to commit suicide and then change his mind? About 10 percent of schizophrenics do take their own lives. Did he get lost, following (or running from) voices or sounds that no one else could hear?</p><p>Sarah's eulogy of her brother she loved so much was incredibly moving. Everybody was crying.</p><p>"Nobody deserves this disease" were her final words.</p><p>But a lot of people have it, some 2.5 million in the U.S. Of the roughly 600,000 homeless people in this country, about one-third suffer from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. That's more than the population of Winston-Salem, and twice the number of schizophrenics receiving treatment. People with mental illness comprise 20 percent of the prison population. We have a problem.</p><p>I asked Vickie Carpenter, president of the North Carolina chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, what would be No. 1 on her wish list for mental health treatment.</p><p>"Public education in our schools, so peers can recognize when there may be a problem," she said, adding, "We need to get over the fear. We don't need to be afraid of people who are mentally ill. This (schizophrenia) is a brain disorder. It's a chemical imbalance in our bodies, just like every other disease we can get."</p><p>In the wake of Newtown, Conn., President Barack Obama has promised more money for mental health care in this country through Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education). AWARE hopes to spend $50 million to train 5,000 mental health professionals to work with young people in schools and communities. The goal is to actively reach out to 750,000 of these unfortunate souls and refer them for treatment. There is a need to "actively reach out" because of the sense of shame and secrecy associated with mental illness. </p><p>It's terribly unfortunate that it took the tragedy at Newtown to bring the issue into focus, but at least it's on the radar screen now. </p><p>Nobody deserves this disease.</p><p>Bruce Benson is a Canadian writer and journalist who makes Hendersonville his home. Reach him at bensonusa@ hotmail.com.</p>